Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Help - someone in the lunch queue just said they'd heard of my blog. Agggh! so I'd better add an update!

Travel is a good incentive for stitching. With a 2 month trip to Colorado coming up I carefully considered what would be most useful, told James he didn't need anything, and finally decided to try to improve the stretch "pants" pattern, left over from last year's class, and also make a mid-weight jumper. We're now on the trip and the clothes are being worn simultaneously, so I can economise on both blogging and photographic pixels.

It looks a bit sunny for such clothing, but the air is actually quite cool for much of the day, and we just popped out of our over-cooled indoor environment to take these photos.

For the trews, all I did to the basics was alter the crotch seam (took a bit off the back and added to the front). The pattern is unfinished at the top and so I generally cut it long, fit the trews and then decide where the waistband should go (according to mood), draft the waistband and stitch. The waistband line comes out as a pretty weird shape being high at the back. This time I decided to experiment and obey it, cutting a 4-piece band, which produced an interesting result and a bit of a gap at the back in the waistband when I sit down. So I probably over-did it a bit and should got for less of a parallelogram for the back piece. Other than that, they are a really good fit and don't need a belt. So now I have to just not change shape, and I've got pattern that fit for both stretch and no-stretch trousers! The fabric is a dark maroon stretch denim that I bought at the Harrogate show last year.

For the hoody I am a bit less certain that I've got it sorted. This one is made from adding width in arms and body to the same pattern used for the rollneck made recently. For that one I fairly radically reshaped the underarm, and maybe it was a bit too radical. The fabric is Polartec Powerstretch so very stretchily forgiving, but I've a feeling it would be a bit tight in a less stretchy fabric. I seem to be struggling to find the right kind of mid-weight as I try to replace this, "Mountain Hoodie" - 2006, which is getting quite worn, and is worn almost every day in British summer! Having said that, this new one is a much better weight for a mountain/exercise hoodie, as it is quite a bit warmer.